The Past That Haunts
by Shibalyfe
Summary: A look at some of Dumbledore's regrets and how he redeemed himself. Warnings: Violence, graphic scenes, death, and a same-sex pairing. Written for The Houses competition, Y2R8.


House: Gryffindor

Position:Prefect 2

Category: Themed#1

Prompt: [Spell] Melofors

Word Count: 3229 – excludes header, title, and A/N

Beta: CK and Tigger. Thank you so much!

A/N: Warning: Story contains death, violence, some graphic scenes, and a same-sex relationship. This was written for The Houses Competition, Y2R8.

The Past That Haunts

Harry entered Dumbledore's office and sat in the seat, waiting. Dumbledore had given him a letter earlier that day asking him to come to his office after classes. Harry had done exactly what he was told but Dumbledore wasn't there yet.

He tried to sit calmly in his seat but he soon began to fidget. It felt like he had been waiting for hours. He had no idea what Dumbledore wanted to talk to him about and he was beginning to get nervous. Had something happened to the Order?

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat; his eyes were roaming the room when a white glow came from one of the cabinets on the other side of the room. Harry quickly sprang to his feet and cautiously approached the glowing cabinet. The doors shot open and a bowl on a pedestal rolled out. Harry sent a cautious glance over his shoulder and walked up to the bowl. He peered down but only saw his reflection in the bowl, which was filled with some type of liquid. Harry reached out his hand and touched the surface, sending ripples of waves through the water, disrupting the peaceful surface.

The glow surrounding the bowl seemed to increase and Harry felt like he was being pulled towards the surface. He braced both of his hands on the edge of the stone bowl, trying to prevent himself from being pulled under, but it was no use. He tried to scream but his mouth just filled with water. The panic rose in him as he began to feel the water turning around him.

The water began to pick up pace, spinning faster and faster, until Harry could feel himself being pulled through. He began to drift down the water tornado and landed on his feet in a dark room.

He could hear muffled voices coming his way and looked around the room for a place to hide, but there was nowhere suitable. The room was empty, except for a sofa pushed up against the wall and a table in the center of the room with two chairs around it.

Harry frantically tried to search the room, the voices growing louder with each passing second. He rushed to the side of the couch but the door to the room was flung open. Harry quickly spun around on his heels, his wand gripped tightly in his hand, but he froze.

A handsome man entered the room first. He was tall, muscular, and had dark black hair. He glanced around the room, looking straight through Harry, and ushered in the person behind him.

Harry sharply drew in his breath. Standing in front of him was Dumbledore—not the Dumbledore that he knew now, but a younger version. He was not wearing any glasses and his beard was shorter, but it was unmistakably him. He looked to be in his twenties at this time.

"Hello, Dumbledore," Harry called out to him. "Why are we here?"

Both men ignored him and carried on with their conversation. Confused, Harry cautiously stepped up to Dumbledore and tugged on the sleeve of his arm, but still he was ignored.

He took a step back, panic rising, unsure what had he done. He quickly ran around the room searching for a way out but there were no windows and the only door revealed nothing but black nothingness when opened.

He turned back defeated, deciding that he would just have to wait until Dumbledore came back into his office and saw that Harry was trapped in, well, wherever he was.

He focused on the two men in the room. Who was the other man?

"Gellert," Dumbledore said, "We already tried that route. He won't sell the Elder wand."

"Then we will take it by force," the dark-haired man said, slamming his fist against the table.

Dumbledore nodded his head in agreement. "Of course, Gellert."

"If we had access to the Elder Wand then our plans could finally come true. We could finally take down the Muggles and take over the world. We are so close, Albus, I can almost feel it. It will all be worth it for the greater good, you'll see"

"Yes," Dumbledore agreed, "the wand is the key: the key to our success."

Gellert walked around the table to where Dumbledore was standing and grabbed the front of his robes, pulling him in closer.

"This is it, Albus; this new world will be all our own."

He pulled Dumbledore towards him and planted his lips on his. His arms were wrapped around Albus fiercely and Harry could hear the small moans and whimpers that the couple began to emit.

Harry, quickly averted his gaze and turned to face a stone wall. He went to count bricks to distract himself when the room started to spin and the stone bricks began to fade. The noises also began to fade and were quickly replaced with another sound.

Harry was looking out over a field from the top of a hill. The same two men were lying on a blanket below him. They were staring up at the stars. Their whispered words floated towards Harry and he could hear everything that they were saying.

"Albus, you are the most important thing in the world; the fame, the glory, and the power would mean nothing without you."

"Do you really mean that?" Albus asked skeptically, his head turning towards the other man.

"Of course, I love you and I will give you the world to prove it. Together we will rule over the Muggles. Together. I promise."

Albus reached for Gellert's hand and intertwined their fingers. They both looked up at the stars together, a calm peace surrounding the two.

The scene began to shift again, the familiar spinning tensing Harry's stomach. He was in a dungeon now and the dampness chilled his bones.

He could hear tortured groans around him and he could make out broken and wounded bodies surrounding him. Harry inhaled sharply as he took in the scene. Bodies littered the floor, some dead, most dying. Some had body parts missing, crudely sewn shut, others had different parts attached to them: a claw, a beak, a tail. Harry couldn't even process all the monstrosities that surrounded him. He backed up until iron bars dug into his back.

He heard the scrapping of iron as the cell door to his left began to open. He saw Dumbledore enter the dimly lit cell and let out a breath of relief; Dumbledore would save them.

He saw Dumbledore survey the room, nonplussed about the state of its occupants. He walked towards a man missing his right arm and hauled him to his feet. The man started to cry and plead with Dumbledore.

"Please no more! I beg of you, have mercy!"

Dumbledore yanked him harder and dragged him out the door.

"That is enough out of you, you filthy Muggle!" Dumbledore answered sharply.

Harry felt dizzy as the room began to shift again. He didn't understand; Dumbledore was good, he helped people.

Harry could see green grass beneath his feet and trees surrounding him. He could hear shouts in the distance and he ran towards the noises.

He ran straight into a field. This time there were not two men but three.

They were shouting and throwing curses and jinxes at each other. Harry scrambled to catch up with the dueling wizards.

Two men were familiar, Dumbledore and Gellert, but the third man was a mystery to him.

"Brother," the other man cried, "This has gone far enough! Don't you see what this is doing to our family?"

Gellert shouted a curse and red sparks flew at the third man. Dumbledore raised his wand and shot off blue sparks at Gellert.

"You said you wouldn't attack my brother!" His voice rang with rage.

Harry surveyed the scene around him in slow motion. He saw Dumbledore draw his arm back to

send another curse at Gellert. He saw his lips begin to form the words. He saw Gellert and the

other man also draw back their wands. Harry could sense magic electrifying the air around him.

Harry braced himself, waiting for the impact. He heard a feminine shout and saw a young girl run into the middle of all three men with her hands raised. She was shouting at them to stop but

Harry could already tell it was too late.

"Run! Get out of the way!" Harry tried to shout at her but she paid him no mind.

Harry saw Dumbledore's eyes widen and try to stop the spell he was casting, but it was too late.

Green, red, and blue sparks filled the air from the three men; a spell hit the young girl and she instantly fell to the ground.

Dumbledore and the third man rushed to the young girl's side. They both fell to their knees and embraced the girl in their arms, her body limp.

Dumbledore glared at Gellert.

"This is your fault!"

Gellert quietly surveyed the scene for a moment and fled.

"You will pay for this, Grindelwald!" Dumbledore called after him, before turning to the dead girl and pulling her to his chest, tears streaming down his face.

The scenes began to change faster now and harry saw himself in a white room.

There was a man in a suit pacing next to a table.

"Go over it again, Dumbledore, what are his plans?"

Dumbledore launched into a long-detailed explanation of Grindelwald's plans.

"That is why I must go to America; he will strike there next."

"And why should we trust you, Dumbledore? You were one of his followers, you did his bidding, you admitted to it." The man shot Dumbledore a disbelieving glare.

"I understand your hesitation, Bartholomew, but after what he did to my sister, I will never walk down that crooked path again. I can see now the wrongness of my ways. Innocent people should not have to die. Ariana is a painful reminder." Dumbledore turned away, ashamed. "When Gellert means that it was all for the greater good, he only means _his_ greater good."

The other man studied Dumbledore and sighed heavily.

"I don't think we have any other option. You are not a part of the ministry, so we will not be accused of interfering from the Magical Congress of America. I don't trust you to do this alone and we can't have any agents enter America due to current tensions." The man rubbed his hands through his hair roughly. "We have no other choice. There is only one man in America that I know of that could possibly help. He used to work for the ministry in the Magical Creature's department before he started searching for magical creatures across the world. I don't know how much help he will be, but we don't have any other options… at least he will be familiar with our protocols."

"I don't need anyone else; I will stop him all on my own. That was the only promise I made to Ariana when we buried her."

"Yes, well," the man said sternly, "Newt Scamander will be our point of contact. You must ask him for his help. We will send him a letter explaining the situation. Newt is the head of this project; I trust his craziness more than I trust yours."

The walls began to shift and the white room turned into a cramped apartment.

Dumbledore was sitting across the table from a tall, skinny man.

"Now is the time to strike!" His voice rose with each word. "He is weak and vulnerable, we have already infiltrated his forces and wiped out half of his followers. When is a better time to strike, Newt?"

Newt's face was drawn, there were bags under his eyes, and his eyes were weary.

"Dumbledore," Newt said cautiously, "I understand your eagerness, I really do, but there are only six of us, and we are tired. We also need time to recoup and regain our strength."

"I'll just go alone then; this is _my_ score to settle."

Dumbledore quickly got up from the table, the chair screeching behind him. He threw open the door and strutted out.

Newt tried to call after him but hung his head when Dumbledore did not come back.

Little snippets of other scenes began to flash in front of Harry. He saw Dumbledore tracking a group of men and slaughtering them in rage. He saw Dumbledore leading a small group on a raid, destroying a warehouse in their wake. He saw Dumbledore entering a home that looked like it had been ravaged. Furniture was broken and thrown across the floor. Harry saw blood smeared along the walls and he followed Dumbledore down the hallway. The room they entered had bodies piled on top of each other in the center of the room. 'Die Mudbloods' was scribbled on the floor in blood and the body of a dismembered child was next to it, lying in a puddle of his own blood.

Harry could feel bile rise in his throat and he turned to run from the room, but the walls began to shift and the pile of bodies faded from view. The pool of blood was replaced with a dark crimson carpet. Harry could tell that he was in a bedroom.

He saw as Dumbledore silently slip through the open window and make his way towards the bed. A knife was in his hand, posed to strike.

"Looking for me, Albus?" a cold voice asked from the corner.

Gellert kicked himself off the wall and strode towards Dumbledore.

"I wondered when you would come for me, Albus. I knew you wouldn't be able to wait for very long. So, eager, so filled with rage to avenge your sister."

Gellert was pacing around Dumbledore like a predator would circle his prey. His knees were bent and he was ready to strike. His pacing stopped and he leaped at Dumbledore, and both men fell to the floor. The knife fell away from Dumbledore and flew across the room out of reach. The men tumbled along the floor and began to exchange blows. Dumbledore was bleeding from the nose and a yellow bruise was beginning to form around Gellert's jaw.

Finally, Dumbledore gained the upper hand;, he used his body weight to pin the other man to the ground. He shifted forward and stared into Grindelwald's eyes. His voice coated was with venom.

"I told you I was coming for you, Gellert. This is the end for you."

Gellert was looking up into Dumbledore's eyes, his black eyes narrowed and cold.

"Do it, Albus. Look into my eyes and kill me." He paused and studied Dumbledore before adding, "You always said you loved my eyes. I don't think you can do it; love was always your biggest weakness."

Dumbledore hissed and shifted his weight so he could stare directly into Gellert's eyes. His eyes softened at his reflection in them, his wand hand dropped, and his head dipped. He gave Gellert a soft kiss and then turned away.

" _Melofors!"_ Dumbledore whispered.

Gellert's head turned into a pumpkin and Harry could hear the mad laughing of the man in the pumpkin.

"I knew you couldn't do it, Albus!" the muffled voice was shouting.

"I loved you," Dumbledore whispered. He quickly cast a binding charm and ran across the room to get the knife. He returned with the knife in hand, posed in the air, ready to strike.

"This is for making me believe in your promises! For making me believe that you loved me too!" Dumbledore cried, bringing the knife down into the other man's flesh. He pulled out the knife, a red spot flowering on the man's shirt.

"This is for tearing my family apart!" He brought the knife down again. "And this is for my sister!"

He brought the knife down again and again, until the laughing finally stopped.

Harry could feel another presence near him and he tore his eyes from the bloody scene to see a grave Dumbledore staring at the scene next to Harry.

"Professor!" Harry cried.

Dumbledore tore his eyes away from the scene and began to survey Harry.

"This was not the conversation I was hoping we would have tonight, Harry. Come, let us go back to where we belong."

He held out his hand for Harry, which he took eagerly, wanting to escape this place as soon as possible. The scene began to blur in front of him and soon Harry saw the same tornado begin to form. It grew around Harry and Dumbledore and eventually began to shoot them up into the air. Harry thrashed around until he finally landed on his feet in front of the stone pedestal back in Dumbledore's office.

"Professor! What was that!?" Harry cried, his bewildered eyes darting back and forth from the bowl to Dumbledore's retreating form.

"That is a pensive, Harry. It holds memories."

"Those were your memories!?" Harry asked.

"Unfortunately, I was young and stupid then, but I am old and wise now. I quickly grew to see the error of my ways. Once I realized my mistakes, I did everything in my power to stop him and as you saw, I eventually killed him. His death redeemed me and quickly I was rejoiced."

"But, I don't understand."

Dumbledore sighed and sat down heavily in the seat behind his desk.

"Love makes many men do stupid things. The only thing I cared about was Gellert and I thought that the world we created together would bring us closer. I lost sight of other things that were important."

"Like Ariana?" Harry supplied.

Dumbledore nodded his head sadly. "Yes, like Ariana, like my family. Once I realized the errors of my way, I vowed to redeem myself. After killing Grindelwald, the wizarding world rejoiced me and honored me with Merlin's Order; they quickly forgot about my dark deeds, but I knew it wasn't enough. I spent my whole life making up for the sins of my past. I helped train Aurors. I let them interview me and see inside my mind. Through my memories, they could see how a dark mind works, the inner thinkings that Gellert shared with me, and all of his sick reasonings behind his torture. I did everything I could to help rebuild the wizarding world and helped improve our relations with America. Once I was done with that I turned to helping children; that is where the seed for hate and bigotry are normally planted, the beginnings of dark magic. I wanted to prevent that from ever happening again. Any other questions, Harry?"

Harry shook his head slowly and began to walk to the door, sensing his dismissal.

"Remember Harry, it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. I made the wrong choice when I was younger and I am spending my life trying to make up for it, trying to make the right choices to prove that I am a good wizard, to prove to myself that I deserve the redemption the wizarding world has granted me.

"You do," Harry said earnestly.

Dumbledore gave Harry a tight smile before turning to stare at a portrait on his desk that Harry suspected was Ariana. Harry gave took one last look at Dumbledore before turning to leave.


End file.
